Federal Grants

• Students will be limited to a maximum of 12 terms of full-time Pell payments or its equivalent for part-time study
• Pell is for students pursuing undergraduate degrees only
• You may not be in default on a previous federal student loan or owe the federal government a refund of financial aid previously received
• You must be willing to verify the information you provide on the FAFSA
• If you are male between 18 and 25 years of age you must register with Selective Service
• You may not be convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs while receiving financial aid

• Application Form
  Apply for financial aid using the FAFSA
• Residency and Citizenship
  You must be a citizen of the United States or an eligible non-citizen
• Qualifying Program and credits
  • You must be accepted for admission to a degree-seeking program
  • You must register for at least six equated credits
  • You must be Pell eligible
  • Available to students who have not completed a bachelor’s degree
• Additional Information on FSEOG
  • You must be in good academic standing and make satisfactory progress towards completing a degree
  • You may not be in default on a previous federal student loan or owe the federal government a refund of financial aid previously received
  • You must be willing to verify the information you provide on the FAFSA
  • You may not possess or sell illegal drugs while receiving financial aid

Eligibility for Year Round Pell

To be eligible for a summer Pell Grant, you must:

• Have completed a FAFSA
• Be Pell Grant eligible
• Enroll in summer classes
• Enroll at least 6 credit hours
• Be meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
• Have lifetime Pell Grant eligibility remaining

LifeTime Pell Eligibility

The maximum time frame that students may receive a Pell Grant is equivalent of 12 full-time semesters or 600 percent. Summer Pell awards will apply towards the Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU). One full-time semester of a Pell award is equal to 50 percent. To check your remaining Pell, log onto https://nslds.ed.gov/npas/index.htm using your FSA ID. The federal government measures this in the following manner:

If a Pell Grant is disbursed in a semester:

Minimum Credits for Summer Pell

• If you enrolled full-time (12+ credits) and received the full-time Pell Grant amount for fall and spring, you must enroll at least half-time (6 credits) in summer classes to receive the remainder summer Pell Grant.
• If you enrolled part-time fall or spring, there is no minimum credit requirement to receive a summer Pell Grant. You can use the remainder of your annual Pell Grant amount during summer with no minimum credit requirement.

Examples of how Year Round Pell Works

Below are various scenarios in which a student is awarded Year-Round Pell based on receiving the maximum Pell Grant (0 EFC) of $6,895 for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

As required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (the sequester law), any TEACH Grant that is first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2022, and before Oct. 1, 2023, must be reduced by 5.7 percent from the award amount for which a recipient would otherwise have been eligible. For example:

• For any 2022–23 TEACH Grant first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2022, and before Oct. 1, 2023, the maximum award of $4,000 is reduced by 5.7 percent ($228), resulting in a maximum award of $3,772.

As a condition for receiving a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve in which you agree to (among other requirements) teach

• in a high-need field;
• at an elementary school, secondary school, or educational service agency that serves students from low-income families; and
• for at least four complete academic years within eight years after completing (or ceasing enrollment in) the course of study for which you received the grant.

Note: If you do not meet the requirements of your service obligation, all TEACH Grants you received will be converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. You must repay these loans in full, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.

ED is finalizing a process that will provide an opportunity for certain TEACH Grant recipients whose TEACH Grants were converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans to request reconsideration of the conversions. You will be able to request a reconsideration if you met or are meeting the TEACH Grant service requirements within the eight-year service obligation period, but had your grants converted to loans because you did not comply with the annual certification requirement. Once we complete our process work, we plan to update this page by Jan. 31, 2023, with instructions on how to apply for reconsideration of your converted TEACH Grants.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a TEACH Grant, you must do the following:

• Meet the basic eligibility criteria for the federal student aid programs.
• Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form.
• At CUNY be enrolled as an eligible senior level (4th year) undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, or graduate student at a school that participates in the TEACH Grant Program.
• Be enrolled in a TEACH-Grant-eligible program.
• Meet certain academic achievement requirements (generally, scoring above the 75th percentile on one or more portions of a college admissions test or maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25). For specific information about the academic requirements, talk to the financial aid office at your college or career school.
• Receive TEACH Grant counseling that explains the terms and conditions of the TEACH Grant service obligation. You must complete counseling each year that you receive a TEACH Grant.
• Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve.

Teach Grant Eligible Program

A TEACH-Grant-eligible program is a program of study that is designed to prepare you to teach as a highly qualified teacher in a high-need field and that leads to a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or is a postbaccalaureate program. A postbaccalaureate program is not TEACH-Grant-eligible if it is offered by a school that also offers a bachelor’s degree in education.

Schools that participate in the TEACH Grant Program determine which of the programs they offer are TEACH-Grant-eligible. A program that is TEACH-Grant-eligible at one school might not be TEACH-Grant-eligible at another school. Additionally, even if a program meets the eligibility requirements to be a TEACH-Grant-eligible program, it may not be designated as TEACH-Grant-eligible by the school. Contact the financial aid office at the school you are attending (or that you plan to attend) to find out which programs at that school are eligible.

High-need fields

High-need fields are

• bilingual education and English language acquisition,
• foreign language,
• mathematics,
• reading specialist,
• science, and
• special education, as well as
• any other field that has been identified as high-need by the federal government, a state government, or a local education agency, and that is included in the annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing (Nationwide List).

If you plan to teach in a high-need field that is included in the Nationwide List, that field must be listed for the state where you teach either at the time you begin your qualifying teaching service or at the time you received a TEACH Grant.

Students are also eligible for the following grants: NYS Higher Education Services Corporation – NYS Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Incentive Program, NYS Higher Education Services Corporation – NYS Masters-in-Education Teacher Incentive Scholarship, NYS Higher Education Services Corporation – NYS Math & Science Teaching Incentive Scholarships

Submit a FAFSA to apply for Pell and you may also indicate your interest in student employment on the form. Indicating your interest in work-study does not commit you to accepting it. You will have the opportunity to accept or decline each part of your aid package later. Leaving work-study unchecked will not increase the amount of grants you receive. In addition you can request a loan at the financial aid office at the school you will be attending.

Students will be limited to a maximum of 12 terms of full-time Pell payments or its equivalent for part-time study

You may receive Pell and other forms of federal aid for up to 30 hours of non-credit remedial course work (excluding ESL courses).

If you are repeating a course you need to check the policy of your college and it’s grading policy. You may receive PELL and other forms of federal aid for that course. You should remember that repeating a course may limit your ability to meet the Satisfactory Academic Performance requirements for receipt of federal student aid.

Your school can apply Pell Grant funds to your school costs, pay you directly, or combine these methods. Schools must disburse funds at least once per term.

There is a lifetime aggregate limit of six years for Pell or its part-time equivalent. If you are close to or have reached that limit, you will not be eligible for or see a reduction in your summer Pell award.

No.

Check the Federal Student Aid website for more information about and how to view your Pell LEU usage.

You can enroll for fewer than six credits and still get a Pell award, if you have remaining Pell LEU eligibility, have filed a FAFSA, and been awarded a Pell grant.

This is a federal minimum requirement.

Yes. If your schools offers more than summer session you can combine them towards the 6 credit minimum requirement for Year Round Pell.

Any Pell Grant or portion that is not used (disbursed) for the summer will not be counted towards the Pell Grant lifetime limit.

It will not affect the 2023-2024 eligibility amount but it will affect a student’s Pell LEU (Lifetime Eligibility Used). In other words, using the Pell Grant for summer will reduce a student’s remaining eligibility for the remainder of their academic program.

Payment of a summer session Pell Grant depends on your attendance in the classes you are enrolled in. Dropping or withdrawing from classes may reduce or cancel your award and result in a tuition balance owed to the college. If you receive Pell for enrolled classes and you fail to attend, you will have to return those funds immediately to the college.

Each year that you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign an Agreement to Serve or Repay. The agreement explains the terms and conditions for receiving a TEACH Grant. By signing the Agreement to Serve, you agree to these terms and conditions and acknowledge that if you do not fulfill the service obligation described in the agreement, the TEACH Grant funds you received will be converted to a loan that you must repay.

If you have any additional questions visit your financial aid office at your college.